No Charges For NJ Cops Who Fatally Shot Unarmed Black Man Jerame Reid

The police shooting death case of unarmed Black man Jerame Reid in Bridgeton, N.J. in December 2014 made its way to a grand jury, adding to a disturbing number of similar cases nationwide. The jury decided not to indict the two officers named in the shooting on Wednesday, further igniting conversations over the use of deadly force in traffic stops involving Black people across the nation.

As reported by CBS News, the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office announced the details of the Dec. 30 shooting and why the grand jury made its decision not to prosecute officers Roger Worley and Braheme Days.

From CBS News:

Cumberland County First Assistant Prosecutor Harold Shapiro said the grand jury was instructed on potential criminal charges against the officers and the state’s rules for justified force. On Wednesday, the jurors declined to indict the officers. Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McCrae recused herself because she knew Days.

The shooting in Bridgeton, where two-thirds of the residents are black or Hispanic, stirred protests and opened up a rift between the police department and residents in the city of 25,000 people about 35 miles south of Philadelphia.

Walter Hudson, chairman of the National Awareness Alliance, which has organized protests in Bridgeton over the shooting, said the group was disappointed but not surprised by the grand jury’s decision. He said the group will ask the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

Reid was known to the officers, as could be determined from the dash cam video that captured the fatal encounter which highlighted the officers calling him by his first name. Reid was arrested just months prior to the evening he lost his life for resisting arrest.

Reid’s death led to a series of protests in Bridgeton, and his widow, Lawanda Reid, filed a $1 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. She also reached a settlement with Cumberland County of around $340,000.